Originally Posted by
lnanek
I heard the Alfine hubs have a shift cable that pulls up around the back rear of the hub:
Nexus have one that pulls forward along the bottom.
This is true, in my limited experience with several Nexus 7 and 6, and one Alfine 11. Also, the Nexus hubs are "Low Normal", meaning that they go to the lowest gear when cable tension is released.
Alfine hubs are "High Normal". I suspect this is related to the direction the cable pulls around the Cassette Joint.